proust



P. E. PROUST.

Car-Axle Box.

Patented Nov. 18, 1856.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

I". E. PROUST, OF ORLEANS, FRANCE.

LUBRICATING CAR-AXLE AND OTHER J OURNALS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 16,099, dated November 18, 1856;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PIERRE ETIENNE PRoUsT, of Orleans, in the Empire ofFrance, have invented certain Means of Facilitating the Lubrication of Journals which have Become Heated; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed sheet of drawings, making a part of the same.

This invention relates to a combination of apparatus for facilitating the lubrication of journals which have become heated by the want of lubricating or coaling matter.

This combination of apparatus is so contrived as to cause in a self-acting way and when required, the introduction of water into the grease box or lubricating vessel, and this I effect by means of a siphon one branch of which dips into the grease box and the other into an air-tight vessel fitted onto, or surrounding the common greasing apparatus and filled with water for which reason I desire this invention to be styled the hydro-siphoid-lubricating system. This system, it is presumed being especially useful in its adaptation to the grease-boxes of railway carriages.

I shall mention that the object of this application will be to reduce the consumption of lubricating matter as well as to render more regular the progress of trains which is at present very often retarded, either by the necessity of filling the grease boxes which in their present mode of Working consuming a great quantity of grease get very soon empty, or on account of the heating of the journals which often endangers the safety of the train and which it is now generally sought to stop by throwing cold water upon the heated parts which requires a good deal of time and is a nuisance in working the railway. Although different means have been tried to remove this difliculty in keeping the journals cool, none of them has been found applicable because only grease or oil have been employed which being most inflammable substances cannot be used with safety for stopping the progress of the heating.

The novelty of this invention consists in remedying these evils by a ready means of applying any liquid cooling matter, such as water, which might mix with or be added to the grease or oil without altering thereby the metals; and in order to show the applicability of this system to the greasing apparatus now in use. I have represented on the annexed sheet of drawings various views of a railway grease-box as used on some lines, fitted up according to the hydro-siphoid system.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of the grease box through the center line of the grease-box or axle as, Fig. 2, is a transverse vertical section of the same. Fig 3, is a'plan or top view of the same. Fig. 4, is a horizontal section of the same, with the axle and bearing omitted.

A is a reservoir or cavity arranged outside around the box and containing a suitable quantity of water about two quarts in this case. This reservoir is filled by the opening B which is then closed air-tight by any stopping contrivance such as the fiat lid 0, lever D and inclined projection E shown Figs. 1, 2, 3. The grease box proper F does not differ materially from those now in use; its lower part G under the axle communicates with the outer or Water reservoir by means of the siphon H Figs. 1, 2, 4. The grease box F having been replenished with lubricating matter as usual through the opening I, as soon as the undue rotary friction of the axle journal or the temperature of the atmosphere should cause a sufiicient heat for melting the lubricating matter, the water, surrounding the box is also heated sufficiently to exert by its steam a pressure which causes a certain quantity of water to pass through the siphon E into the bottom part G of the grease-box where also the melted greasing matter is collected, the quantity of water thus passing into the grease box depending on the degree of heat evolved. The water and grease thus heated to a certain degree mix very easily and form a soapy or fatty llquid in which all hard or foreign matters whlch may have got into the greasing appa- 'ratus do settle down. The axle journal beas journals of main ranges of shafting, footsteps of upright shafts, pedestals of propeller, screw and paddle Wheel shafts &c.

I do not claim the mere introduction of steam or Water into the lubricating chamher; but i What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is i The application to greasing or lubricate ing apparatus of axles, shafts'and other'rotating portions of carriages and of inachin- 

